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Thursday November 30th, 2023

Tag: flying autonomous robots

HMC News – May 2023

Posted on by Liz Piña

The wait is over. Harvest has begun for tree fruit in peaches, white peaches, nectarines, white nectarines, and organic peaches this month. The fruit looks good and is brixing well with great color and flavor for the first of the season. This will only continue to improve with time. With temperatures in the 90’s, the fruit will continue to mature in a timely fashion. Peak season fruit in both flavor and volume is right around the corner. By the week of June 5th, we will have promotable volumes available on all commodities except plums and plumcots. We are also training the juvenile trees and will complete trellis installation soon.

Shoot thinning in the table grapes is complete and grape bloom is finished.  It was one of the most accelerated blooms in recent memory. We are currently waiting for bunches to fully shatter out, which will give us a better idea of the shape of the bunch in the fall. The berries on the lead bunches have already begun to size up. Leafing is wrapping up this month, and we have begun hanging bunches. This is the process of untangling bunches from canes, leaves, or other bunches to ensure they are hanging freely and that the berries have adequate room to grow.

Today HMC Farms is welcoming back Tevel. This will be the second consecutive year in our orchards for the Israeli ag tech company. While here, Tevel will continue to fine tune their flying autonomous robots for mechanical harvesting. Being immersed in harvest and our fields throughout the summer is a key component to fine tuning the software for farm and commodity specific tasks such as detaching the fruit correctly from the limb, variety by variety variations in color and density, specific release protocols, and more. These robots will eventually allow us to optimize our harvest by giving us the ability to pick fruit on afternoons with high heat, at night, or other windows of time that are currently unavailable. Our high-density planting system makes HMC Farms an ideal partner in this endeavor.

 

HMC Farms® announces autonomous drone harvest pilot program

Posted on by Liz Piña

Platform with two drones in the middle of an orchard full of trees

For immediate release:

HMC Farms® has partnered with Tevel Aerobotics Technologies to pilot their drone harvesting system utilizing Flying Autonomous Robots. Each robot has the ability to fly, locate fruit, harvest and place the fruit all on its own with no human interaction required.

HMC Farms has a reputation for pursuing cutting edge ag technology. Drew Ketelsen, Vice President and Farm Manager, has a background in civil engineering which gives him a unique perspective on farming and technology. He and Jon McClarty, President of HMC Farms and Drew’s brother-in-law, work together to stay updated on the latest developments and test various forms of ag tech in order to determine the best fit for their farms.

Ketelsen attributes HMC’s high density stone fruit planting system with the ability to utilize drone harvesting. He says, “The years of work we’ve put into cultivating high density orchards are paying off as we implement technology like Flying Autonomous Robot harvesting. We have successfully harvested peaches, nectarines and multiple colors of plums using drones this summer. This project is still in an early stage, but the future potential is very exciting.”

When asked about his thoughts on the pilot program and expanding into the U.S. market, Ittai Marom, US General Manager at Tevel Aerobotics Technologies, shared: “Tevel is pushing the limits of the autonomous revolution in agriculture, and this year marks our debut in the US with our first customers, among them HMC Farms. In harvesting HMC’s fruit, we are gaining first-hand field experience by working alongside their team, while HMC is positioning itself at the forefront of robotic harvesting of stone fruit. So far in our California operations, we have successfully harvested peaches, nectarines, and plums. We are grateful for the support we are getting from HMC’s management and team.”

Autonomous harvest options have great potential to fill a crucial need in the agricultural community, which has notoriously dealt with labor shortages over the years. In places like California’s Central Valley, this technology also may help with harvest during periods of extreme heat, as summer temperatures can often reach well above 100 degrees for many days in a row, right at the peak of stone fruit harvest.

 

About HMC Farms

HMC Farms is a family owned and operated farming business that has grown tree fruit and table grapes in California’s Central Valley since 1887. They believe in growing fruit they are proud to put their name on. To learn more about HMC Farms, visit www.hmcfarms.com.

 

About Tevel Aerobotics Technologies

Tevel’s mission is to lead the transformation from manual fruit picking into on-demand Flying Autonomous Robots. To learn more about Tevel, visit www.tevel-tech.com.

 

 

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